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Jerry Stiller
|birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |occupation = Actor, Comedian, Voice-over artist |yearsactive= 1953-present |series = King of Queens |character = Arthur Spooner |episodes = All in series (276, 1998-2007), Seasons 1-9 |spouse = Anne Meara, 1953-2015, her death |relatives = Ben Stiller (son) Amy Stiller (daughter) |website = }} Jerry Stiller(born Gerald Isaac Stiller June 8, 1927) is the actor who plays the part of Arthur Spooner on The King of Queens. He also is well known for his role as Frank Costanza on the hit NBC-TV sitcom series Seinfield. His son, comedian/actor Ben Stiller, appeared in an episode in which he played him in a flashback when Arthur was a child. A veteran standup and stage improvisational comedic peformer, Jerry spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife, veteran comedienne/actress Anne Meara. Stiller and Meara are the parents of comedian-actor Ben Stiller (with whom he co-starred in the movies Zoolander, Heavyweights, Hot Pursuit and The Heartbreak Kid) and actress Amy Stiller. Career as part of Stiller and Meara act The comedy team Stiller and Meara, composed of Stiller and wife Anne Meara, was successful in the 1960s and 1970s, with numerous appearances on television variety programs such as CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan Show. Their career declined as variety series gradually disappeared, but they subsequently forged a career in radio commercials, notably the campaign for Blue Nun wine. They also starred in their own syndicated five-minute sketch comedy show Take Five with Stiller and Meara, in 1977–78. From 1979 to 1982, Stiller and Meara hosted HBO Sneak Previews, a half-hour show produced monthly on which they described the movies and programs to be featured in the coming month.http://www.filmreference.com/film/32/Jerry-Stiller.html They would also do a few brief comedy sketches between show discussions. The duo's own 1986 TV sitcom, The Stiller and Meara Show, in which Stiller played the deputy mayor of New York City and Meara portrayed his wife, a TV commercial actress, was unsuccessful. Career resurgence with Seinfeld TV series Jerry played the irascible Frank Costanza, the father of George Costanza in the NBC-TV sitcom Seinfeld from 1993 to 1998. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1997 and won the American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series for his portrayal of Frank Costanza. ''The King of Queens'' TV show (1998) After Seinfeld's network run ended, Stiller had planned on retiring, but Kevin James asked him to join the cast of The King of Queens. James, who played the leading role of Doug Heffernan, had told Stiller that he needed him in order to have a successful show. Stiller obliged, accepting the role of Arthur Spooner, the always scheming (and again, irascible) father of Carrie Heffernan in the situation comedy from 1998 until 2007. Stiller has said this role tested his acting ability more than any others have and that, before being a part of King of Queens, he only saw himself as a "decent actor". Personal life The eldest of four children,http://www.accuracyproject.org/cbe-Stiller,Jerry.html Stiller was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish parents, Bella (née Citrin) and William Stiller, a bus driver.Jerry Stiller Biography (1927–) He lived in the Williamsburg and East New York eighborhoods before his family moved to the Lower East Side,Jerry Stiller's Own Private East Side where he attended Seward Park High School.Seward Park High School Alumni Association, history http://www.sewardparkhs.com/famousalumni.phpA drama major at Syracuse University, he gained a Bachelor's degree in Speech and Drama in 1950. In the 1953 Phoenix Theater production of Coriolanus (produced by John Houseman), Jerry (along with Gene Saks and Jack Klugman) formed "the best trio of Shakespearian clowns that he had ever seen on any stage." Front & Center by John Houseman, 1979, Simon & Schuster Publishers, New York City, ISBN 0-671-24328-4|pages=439. References Category:Actors